“Let’s go,” Nikolas reaches for his jacket. As they open the door, they stop and look at the three men standing there.

“Going somewhere?” Jason Morgan gestures to his bodyguards to step back.

“Jason? What are you doing here?” Nikolas says.

“Look, Emily isn’t here and we are on our way out.”

“I know Emily isn’t here.” Jason says coldly, as he withdraws an envelope out of his pocket. He pulls a picture out of the envelope. Nikolas pales. Liz turns her head into Lucky’s shoulder.

The picture is of Emily. Bound and gagged. Unconscious. A cut across her face. She has obviously been beaten. And beaten badly.

“It came with a note.” Jason adds. He holds up a piece of paper written on with black marker.” The note reads: Kill Nikolas or I will kill her.

Nikolas looks up and meets Jason’s eyes. Jason smiles, a cold smile. “That’s why I’m here.” Jason turns to his bodyguards. “Boys” And with that single command, the two heavily armed guards advance on Nikolas

Lucky moves to stand between Nikolas and the bodyguards while Frisco coolly pulls out his revolver and aims it at Jason.

“You don’t want to do this Morgan”

Jason shakes his head impatiently. “Does insanity run in your family Jones? It must if you think you are in any way scaring me.” Jason looks at the four of them. “What in the hell do you think I am? Some kind of cold blooded killer?”

No one answers. No one dares to voice their thoughts.

“Then let me explain why I’m not about to kill young Cassadine here. First I will not give in to threats. Threats of any kind. You don’t last long in my line of work if people think they can blackmail you into doing something. Second, I know for a fact that Emily will pretty much have my head on a platter if anything happens to Nikolas. And while I may not fear the WSB(this said with a glare at Frisco), my little sister’s wrath is a tad bit more deadly. Miguel and Tony are two of my best men. They are here to guard Nikolas not kill him. I’ve got the rest of my men and every connection I know looking for Emily. I’m not here to kill anyone. Not yet anyway. All I want are some answers and my sister.”

Nikolas lets out a breath he wasn’t even aware he was holding. He looks up and meets Jason’s eyes. “You know that I would die if it meant saving Emily.”

“I know, “ Jason nods “She has that affect on the men in her life. What I want to know is what in the hell is going on, who has Emily, and what you plan on doing to rescue her?”

“Look Jason,” Lucky intercedes. “Can we discuss this in the car? We have a lead on where Emily is being held.”

“Then why didn’t you say so.” Jason says. “ What are we waiting for? Let’s go. You can fill me in on the way.”

Frisco stops Nikolas briefly as they make their way down the stairs. “Are you sure you want him and the Q’s for in-laws someday?”

Nikolas flashes a smile at Frisco. “You’ve obviously never met my family.”

“Point taken,” Frisco bounds down the stairs three at a time. I hope you are strongly considering eloping.”

“Already got it planned, man,” Nikolas says as they follow Lucky and Jason. “Already got it planned.”
The studio on the lower east side

Melissa smiles and leans back on the folding chair. “By now Jason Morgan got that little picture I sent of him. Along with the instructions about what will happen if he doesn’t kill Nikolas Cassadine.”

Mark grins. “I would hazard a guess that Nikolas Cassadine will very shortly no longer be a problem. In fact, in he will no longer be.”

Melissa sits up. “Don’t get cocky. I’m not counting on Jason to take care of Nikolas. Brain damaged Mafia bosses can be very unpredictable. That’s why I have this baby set up.” She holds the small but deadly explosive device. “I’ll leave this as a house warming present at their apartment. Then I’ll head back to my place and pick up what we need to get out of the country. You take Emily and move her to the rendezvous point. I’m beginning to think that we’ve been here too long. Your hatred of Nikolas isn’t exactly secret and they’ve probably figured out by now that this isn’t about money. My guess is that sooner or later your name will come up in a list of suspects. The sooner we have Miss Quartermaine out of here the better.”

“And the money?”

“When we’re clear of the city, we’ll contact the Quartermaines directly. They will be easier to deal with than Cassadine was. More by the book. Less playing hero. As for her so called friends” Melissa smiles coldly, “They will be busy burying Nikolas.”

“And that will leave me to comfort the grief stricken Emily,” Mark’s eyes are lit by a dark desire. “She’ll be so shattered by Cassadine’s death that she will turn to me again. She’ll remember how much she loved me. It will be just like it used to be before him.”

“Except that she’ll be completely hooked on drugs again by that point and totally dependent on us for her survival. I don’t think Emily Quartermaine will be a problem to control.”

“Speaking of drugs” Mark begins “Is it time for another injection?” He picks up the syringe in front of him. “Maybe straight heroin this time.”

They both turn their attention to Emily lying still in the corner. Melissa walks over to her. With a sudden viciousness, Melissa kicks Emily hard in the chest. Emily doesn’t react. “She’s still out of it from the first shot. Wait till you get the bitch in the car.”

Melissa walks back and puts the explosive device in a backpack. “I’m out of here.”

After she leaves, Mark heads into the bathroom.

On the floor, Emily opens her eyes and bites her lip against the pain of the blow. She can feel a stabbing pain when she breaths and wonders if she’s broken a rib. She struggles against the waves of pain and the withdrawal from the drugs, both of which are deadening her ability to think. She has to get away. She doesn’t think for a moment that Jason would harm Nikolas. But she knows that Melissa won’t give up until Nikolas is dead. That was apparent in her tone. She doesn’t get this..any of this...the connection between Mark and Melissa...how Melissa could do this...or why. There are no answers. There are only facts. The fact that she is in danger. More importantly, the fact that Nikolas is in danger. She will not allow them to harm Nikolas. She breathes deeply and ignores the stabbing pain. She can hear Mark finishing in the bathroom. Wait for your chance Emily, she tells herself, wait for your chance and grab it.
The studio- twenty minutes later

They don’t bother knocking. With one quick glance between them, the FBI agent, the WSB agent, and the Mafia boss kick the door down and enter guns loaded and ready.

They are met with silence.

“Wait here,” Lucky tells Liz and Nikolas. The three men enter the apartment. After a minute, Frisco returns to the hallway.

“It’s clear. Come in.” Frisco returns his gun to his shoulder holster.

The apartment fits the neighborhood Nikolas thinks. Grungy. Run down. Dirty. The rats here are bold. The two in the corner don’t even look up at the noise.

The studio is small and box like. The only furniture a single bed and a card table with a few chairs pulled around it. It is not the furniture that catches the attention of the would be rescuers, but the collage of pictures above the bed.

Nikolas can feel the blood drain from his face as he looks. They are all of Emily. Emily laughing. Emily jogging. Emily having coffee at the cafe around the corner. Emily standing in the window of their apartment. There are pictures that were obviously of the two of them where he had been cut out. There is even a picture of a grief stricken Emily at Edward’s funeral in Port Charles two months ago.

“How long has he been following her?” Nikolas whispers to Lucky who has come to stand beside him. “My god, how long have they been planning this?”

“We’ll find her,” It’s all Lucky can think of to say. He too is blown away by the extent of Mark’s obsession. He is beginning to understand that they are dealing with two mad people. One of whom wants Emily as his own. The other who wants Emily dead. His time at the academy in Quantico and his year with the FBI haven’t prepared him for this kind of pathological madness. He is suddenly fiercely glad that Frisco is there. He even finds himself glad for Jason’s cool detachment.

Unfortunately Jason is far from cool.

“The bastard is dead,” Jason pronounces and Nikolas finds himself agreeing silently. The thought that Emily has been in this kind of danger for this long is making him sick to his stomach. He should have taken Stefan up on his offer of private guards for them. Or maybe arranged some kind of security from Jason even. Instead he had given in to Emily’s desires for a normal life. Hell, he should have known better. He was a Cassadine. She was a Quartermaine. Normal wasn’t a part of their vocabulary.

“Boss,” Jason’s man motions to something in the corner. It’s a long strip of black cloth. A gag.

“You shouldn’t touch that.” Frisco cautions. “I’ll get a team of forensic experts from the WSB to sweep the room.”

The look that Jason gives Frisco is beyond cold. “You won’t need the evidence. This bastard is not living long enough to stand trial.”

Frisco says nothing. There is nothing to say. He remembers Emily Quartermaine as a young child a few years older than Georgie was now. He could only imagine how he would feel if that wall was plastered with pictures of Georgie or Maxie. Or God forbid Felicia.

Lucky is examining the strip of cloth. He looks up. “There’s blood on it.”

Emily’s blood. It is the final straw. Nikolas staggers to the bathroom where he gives in to the pit of acid that has been rolling in his stomach. It doesn’t leave him feeling any better.

When he emerges from the bathroom, he has only one question on his mind. “What do we do now?” He won’t look in the corner. Every time he starts to, his mind imagines Emily there. Bruised. Hurt. Scared. Alone. He can’t cope with that image so he shuts it off. It isn’t easy.

“They may be crazy but they aren’t dumb,” Frisco says. He and the two bodyguards are the only ones in the room. “Except for a few items of trash, some rope pieces, and the gag the place is pretty clean. Lucky, Liz, and Morgan have started a search of the building. I’ve called the WSB for a list of calls in and calls out over the last week or so. It seems like Morgan was right about you being in danger. We did find this.” Frisco hands Nikolas the list Melissa threw in the trash.

“She plans on killing Emily.” It isn’t a question, but Frisco nods anyway. “All of this is because...of ....”

“My guess- from what you told me on the way over, Melissa blames Emily for Matt’s death.”

“But Emily had nothing to do with Matt’s death.”

“You’re talking about a deranged individual here. Reality doesn’t matter. She believes Emily caused her boyfriend’s death. Therefore she will take away from Emily the person she loves most.”

“Me.”

“Got it.” Frisco says. “The good part about all of this is that I think Melissa is more interested in torturing Emily at this point than killing her. She wants Emily to suffer as she has suffered. Killing her would be too easy”

Nikolas swallows hard. “The fact that Em is probably being tortured is what you call good news. What kind of person are you?”

“A realist. Made more real by some of the things I’ve seen and done in this business. To tell you the truth, I was sure that we would find a dead body. We didn’t. That’s good news.”

“I’ve got better news,” Lucky enters the studio dragging a young teenage gang member along with him. “Meet Jose”

Jason and Liz enter behind Lucky.

“Who’s your friend?” Jason asks. The gang member looks at Jason and pales, obviously recognizing the Mafia boss.

“Jose hear was hanging out at the rear of the building. Says he saw something. Says he won’t tell me without an incentive. What I offered him wasn’t enough.”

Jason approaches the terrified gang member. “Do you know who I am?” His whisper is stone cold.

“Everyone knows who you are Mr. Morgan.” The voice that was filled with bravado around Lucky is now trembling.

“Then let me offer you an incentive....” Jason pulls out his automatic pistol and places it directly against the youth’s forehead. Liz gasps, but Lucky pulls her back. “Is your life a big enough incentive?”

“Yes Mr. Morgan.”

“Then I suggest you tell us what you saw. All of it. In great detail. And if your memory isn’t 100% accurate, it could be the last memory you have.”

Five minutes later, armed with a description of a car and a partial license plate. Frisco, Lucky, Liz, Nikolas, and the two bodyguards head to their own cars. Jason heads out to, but stops to talk to one of his men. He motions to the terrified Jose.

“I want him to remember this,” Jason says. “I don’t want him to ever forget this occasion. Make sure he has something permanent and painful to remember it by.”

The man nods and Jason leaves.

Emily is losing control again. She can feel it. It is getting harder to think. To put together thoughts. The numbness is returning.

She looks at Mark who is sitting in the driver’s seat next to her, his pistol casually sitting on his lap where he can reach it. He had to take off her gag and untie her hands and feet to get her into the car without attracting too much attention. To keep her in control, he had given her another shot of heroin.

Mark turns and looks at her, aware that she is semi-conscious. “It will be okay Emily. You’ll see. We’ll be together. And happy. Just like we were before. “

Emily makes no reply. In truth, she is not sure what is making her sicker. The drugs, her injury, or Mark’s words. She is filled with this increasing sense of desperation. The feeling that if she doesn’t act fast she will not be able to act at all. She remembers Lucky telling her how Stefan Cassadine had kept Lesley Webber drugged and under control for almost two decades. She will not let the same thing happen to her. But with every second that passes she can feel the drug taking effect.

The light in front of them changes to red and the car in front of them changes to red. Mark frantically tries to stop the car but it is too late. Their car collides with the car in front of them. “Damn, “ mutters Mark. He grabs the pistol and puts it inside his jacket. Mark takes a quick glance at Emily. She is silent and still and hasn’t even reacted to the accident. He concludes that she is pretty much out of it. He leaves the car to talk to the driver of the other car.

Emily waits until he is engaged in conversation with the other driver that quickly degenerates into a shouting match, before opening her door and slipping out. She can barely run and most of what she sees are blurs of color, but desperation and fear give her strength. She is halfway down the street, before she hears Mark’s furious screams as he comes after her.


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